Reaction Stateside to Anderson Silva‘s shocking knockout loss to Chris Weidman earlier this year ranged from “I told you so” to claims that the fight was fixed.
Still, few opinions on “The Spider” changed radically afterwards, and he remains the greatest mixed martial artist of all time to the vast majority of MMA fans in America.
Brazilians, though, are apparently nowhere near as accommodating.
Speaking to the media in Brazil on the final stop of the media tour promoting the Silva-Weidman rematch, UFC president Dana White opened up on the hardships the now-former champ has faced in recent months.
I was kind of feeling for him coming into Brazil, he was getting a lot of criticism coming here. This is his country. He’s been f**king fighting for this country forever. He goes out and he loses one fight, the way that it went down, and like everybody turns on you. In one fight? After all the things he’s done and all the things he’s accomplished? I’m sure it’s tough to deal with, but he’s handled it like a champ.
It’s important to remember that MMA is still a relatively new phenomenon in Brazil, so many fans in the southern hemisphere have not seen Silva effortlessly dominate the middleweight division for the better part of a decade.
Seeing Silva drop his hands and taunt Weidman before eating a hellacious left hand may have seemed like a just end to a baselessly arrogant fighter.
The reality, of course, is different.
While fans in America have seen Anderson bob, weave and counterpunch his way to victory over guys like Forrest Griffin, James Irvin and Yushin Okami, not nearly as many Brazilian fans have witnessed such feats.
To be fair, far too many fans the world over seem to have forgotten that Anderson’s dropping his hands serves a purpose (which was discussed in depth by our own Jack Slack right here). Even so, Brazilian fans whose first taste of Silva was at UFC 162 may have soured on him.
Regardless, Silva is set to face off with Weidman once again at UFC 168 in December. He has a chance to prove all his naysayers and detractors wrong; he just needs to take it.
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